


Pretend

by giiovz



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fake Relationship, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, Fluff, Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-05 15:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5379464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giiovz/pseuds/giiovz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tired of her family’s well-intended meddling and being set up on ridiculous dates with "successful" men, Rei enlists the help of a friend to pose as a fake boyfriend. What starts as a one-time thing, quickly becomes a tangled mess. How will they keep this charade going?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I guess I should say this is probably another one of those corny stories about two people pretending to be in a relationship and then getting to know each other and all that fun stuff. So there you have it. Hope you like it.
> 
> Oh, and I don't own any of these wonderful characters or anything you can recognize.

”Come on, Motoki. Please?” Rei insisted. She knew she was begging now, and she knew his answer wasn’t going to change, but she was getting desperate.

“I’m sorry, Rei. I really am,” he said. “As much as I love you and all, you know I can’t go with you and pretend to be your boyfriend in front of your family.”

“Why not?” she asked again, “no one will know.”

“Well, let’s see,” he crossed his arms. “One, I have a girlfriend. Two? Oh, I don’t know, doesn’t your family know that we’ve been friends for a long time? They’ll see through that right away.”

“I guess you’re right. But I need to do something, Toki! They keep trying to set me up with a bunch of losers and I can’t stand it anymore,” Rei groaned as she collapsed on the couch next to her best friend.

“I know, I know,” he smiled halfheartedly. Then he heard a loud noise coming from the kitchen and an idea clicked in his head. “Why don’t you ask Goten?” Motoki suggested, and Rei almost laughed at that.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Oh, come on now,” he gave her a look. “He’s not that bad, just think about it,” he shrugged his shoulders. “He’s not a loser, he’s good looking, and I’m sure Goten is–“

“You’re sure I’m what?” Goten asked as he walked into his living room and leaned against the doorframe. The smirk on his face reminding Rei of the first time they met.

“Oh great, you’re here,” Motoki smiled, turning his attention to the raven haired girl sitting next to him. “Ask him, Rei.”

“Ask me what?” Goten turned his eyes to her and she just frantically shook her head.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry abou–“

“Oh, please,” Motoki rolled his eyes and turned to his roommate. “She needs someone to go to this family thing so they stop trying to set her up with a bunch of people she can’t stand.”

“A fake boyfriend?” he furrowed his brows, and then turned his eyes to her once again. “Wait, _YOU_ need a fake boyfriend?” he asked, mischief and disbelief in his eyes.

“I just need to show up with someone so they lay off for a while,” Rei admitted, prepping herself for the dismissal. Because why would anyone agree to partake in something so ridiculous?

“Why not ask me?” Goten asked as he crossed his arms and raised a single eyebrow. Something Rei found surprisingly attractive.

“Would you want to?” she barely managed to ask, shoving those foreign thoughts to the back of her head.

“Sure, it could be fun,” he smirked. “When and where?”

“Tonight,” she smiled halfheartedly. “My sister and her husband just got back from their vacation and she probably wants to brag about it and show off so she offered to have a family meal.”

Goten nodded. “Call her,” he said as a funky tune sounded from his pocket.

Rei furrowed her brows, not really sure what he was trying to say as he watched him pull out his phone.

“Call your sister and ask her if you can bring your boyfriend tonight,” he smirked as he answered the phone call. “Hello?” he said into the phone, winking at her and turning around to walk down the hallway to his room.

“See?” Motoki smiled. “Now call your sister,” he reminded her as she continued to stare at the spot where Goten had been standing. Clearly a little shocked that he had agreed to do that.

Rei pulled her phone from her purse and dialed the number, almost hoping her sister wouldn’t answer.

“Hey, Lil’ Sis!”

“Hi Usa, listen, about tonight’s dinner I–“

“No, Rei! Nah-huh. No way, you’re so not canceling on me again! I’ve planned everything out and–“

“I was hoping,” Rei spoke over her, “that it would be okay for me to bring along my boyfriend?”

“WHAT!?” her sister asked. “Since when do you have a boyfriend? And why in the hell is this the first time I’ve heard of him!? I need details. Right now!”

“Well,” Rei bit her lip, completely unsure what to say now, “we’ve only officially been together for a week, and you were on vacation so–“

“Oh my god, Rei! Where did you meet him? Is he cute?”

“Uh, well he’s one of Toki’s friends. He’s actua–“

“He’s friends with him? He must be super cute then!” her sister squealed. “Oh, I know! Send me a picture right now. Bye!” And with that, she hung up, leaving Rei to stare at her phone nervously.

“What happened?” Motoki asked.

“She wants me to send her a picture.” Rei took a deep breath, on the verge of freaking out.

“Oh, well go get one,” he shrugged like it was nothing and got up to go the kitchen. “You wanna eat something?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” she sighed, slightly blushing as she moved off the couch and down the hall. This time, she made sure she knocked on the door before opening it.

“Yeah?” Goten asked as he opened the door. “Oh, hey Rei. What’s up?” he leaned against the doorframe.

“My sister wants a picture as proof that you exist,” she said and Goten chuckled as he stepped back to let her in.

She tried her best to stay calm, but something about being in his room made her feel uneasy.

“Here,” he said, taking her phone from her hands and turning on the camera. He moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her as the other held the phone. “If we take a picture together she’ll get a better vibe that we’re actually ‘together’. Smile now.”

Rei tried to do what she was told, but it just felt so fake and her face was showing it.

“You’re smiling like the people in those toothpaste ads. Come on, Rei, you can do better than that,” he teased. “Give me a beautiful smile.”

She turned her head slightly, about to tell him to forget about it when he leaned his lips to her cheek. It was a small, soft kiss and she couldn’t help but squeak and leap away from him.

Goten looked at the phone and smiled widely as he held it out for her to see. “Much better, see? Send that, she’ll definitely think we’re together when we show up tonight.”

Rei took her phone back and furrowed her brows when she noted the moment he captured. It was like the perfect split second before she panicked, a smile on her lips, his eyes shut as he leaned in to kiss her. They really did look like a couple. A happy couple at that. She sent the picture then, not risking looking up at him anymore. A message ding almost immediately and she smiled at it.

‘Wow, he’s hot!’

Rei snorted as she looked up at Goten, “she bought it.”

“Told you,” he smirked, raising an eyebrow again.

Rei nodded nervously, secretly agreeing with her sister’s opinion about him. “I guess I’ll see you tonight,” she said, slightly biting her lip.

“Looking forward to it,” he winked.

##########

Rei smoothed her form fitting red dress as she knocked on his door. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. No, scratch that. She couldn’t believe he actually agreed to do this.

But here she was, her long raven hair perfectly straightened, strappy black heels, skin tight halter dress with a bare back, standing outside her “boyfriend’s” door.

Goten opened the door and Rei felt her breath hitch at the sight of him. He worked at, and owned, a Mixed Martial Arts gym. He was always wearing gym clothes and sweats, but this… Rei ran her eyes greedily over the dark red button up shirt and black slacks. He looked nice. Really, _really_ nice.

“Hey,” he said with a grin and Rei mentally slapped herself for gawking.

“Hi,” she managed, and he stepped out onto the hallway to leave.

“You two have fun,” Motoki teased from the kitchen.

“I’m sure we will,” Goten grinned, opening the front door for her. “After you, _girlfriend_.”

##########

The drive was awkward and silent. The kind where someone shifts uncomfortably and the other pretends they thought they heard them say something, leading to more awkwardness.

Rei tried to think of something to break the ice, but other than thoughts about how painfully hot he looked, she couldn’t think of anything. Finally, Goten sighed in the passenger seat.

“We need to work out details before we get there.”

Rei looked at him for a split second.

“How long we’ve been dating? When did we first go out? You know, the usual stuff.”

“Oh,” she mentally kicked herself for not thinking about that ahead of time. Of course they needed to have this all worked out. “Well, I told Usa we’ve been dating for a week,” she sighed. “It was the best I could come up with when she asked why I haven’t told her.”

“One week and I’m already meeting the family? Damn, that’s quick,” he shook his head. “That or you must really like me,” he grinned. “Alright, how about the first date thing? I’m thinking something like I _finally_ got the courage to ask you out because I was tired of seeing you waste your time with those idiots. So, first date was typical movie and dinner scenario. How’s that work for you?”

“What movie?” she asked, making Goten chuckle.

“I don’t even remember. I was too focused on not saying anything stupid and ruin my chances with you.”

Rei rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help a small smile on her lips.

“Should we tell them _how_ we actually first met?” he smiled mischievously.

“What? No! Of course not,” she breathed, making him laugh.

“It’s a great story, though. Great ice breaker too.”

“Oh yeah, my family will love to hear about that one time I open the bathroom door and saw your-you getting out of the shower,” she tried to correct herself, but the damage was already done. She could see his mischievous grin out of the corner of her eye. “Dear gods,” she sighed and almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a warm hand on her knee.

“Then I guess we could say it was love at first sight,” he said, turning his palm up and slightly tapping her leg with the back of his hand. “Hold my hand.”

“What?”

“Uh, isn’t that what couples do?” he teased. “If we don’t figure it out now we’ll look ridiculous walking up to the front door trying to fix our fingers. So, hold my hand.”

Rei simply couldn’t argue against that logic, so she did as she was told and she carefully laid her hand on top of his. She was expecting this simple contact to feel awkward, but it actually felt nice. Even comforting too.

“There,” Goten mumbled. “Perfect,” he added, keeping his hand under hers for the rest of the way.

##########

They finally pulled up in front of a big house. “We’re here,” Rei grumbled as she parked. She felt Goten’s hand squeeze hers before he let go and climbed out of the car. She took a deep breath then, but before she could completely draw in her steeling breath, Goten was opening her door. “Oh, what a gentleman,” she remarked, slightly surprised.

“Gotta treat my girlfriend right,” he winked, shutting the door and taking her hand with his once again.

They moved closer to the front door and Rei felt her panic rising. “You know what? This was a bad idea,” she said. “Let’s just go back… I can’t do this, Goten, I–“

“Rei,” Goten stopped them and carefully took her other hand, making her face him. “It’s going to be fine, you got nothing to worry about. I’m right here, I promise I’ll be by your side the whole time, okay? We,” he squeezed her hands gently, “are doing this together, and it’s gonna be fine.”

She felt him let go of her hands when she nodded, and swallowed hard when he knocked at the door.

“Rei!” Her sister flung open her front door, a big smile on her face. “I’m so happy you’re here,” she squealed, moving to give her sister a big hug. “Come on in you two. You must be my sister’s new boyfriend,” her smile widened, “it’s so nice to finally meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he said with a charming smile. “Thank you for letting me join you tonight.”

“Well,” she said, Rei noticing the way her eyes roam over him as she let them in, “my little sister finally has a boyfriend, so that’s kind of a big deal, you know.”

“Usagi,” Rei rolled her eyes.

“Hey, Rei!” She turned around to see Trunks, her brother in law, smiling at her from the doors of the dining room. “How’s my favorite sister in law?”

“I heard that!” Minako appeared at his shoulder, and Rei smiled at her other sister.

“You never told me they were twins,” Goten said quietly, “that’s so cool.”

“Is that you, Rei?” a gorgeous woman with silver hair came from the dining room area, “my, my,” she focused her attention on Goten. “And who’s this handsome stranger?”

“Hello, Mom,” she smiled nervously, unable to stop herself from reaching for Goten’s hand. “This is Goten,” she said carefully, “my boyfriend.”

“Your what?” her father asked from the dining room.

“Dear gods, you finally got a man?” Minako squealed, carefully looking him up and down, “and a fine one too, sis”.

“Boyfriend?” Rei nodded at her mother, nervous as she watched Goten move forward to shake her father’s hand. “Why is this the first time he’s been mentioned to me?”

Rei bit the inside of her lip nervously. “Well–“

“I didn’t realize I was a secret until this morning,” Goten said quickly, “surely Rei couldn’t keep me all to herself for that long.”

“I wouldn’t blame her for that,” Minako giggled.

“And now you’re meeting all the family,” Usagi chuckled, ignoring her twin sister’s comment.

“I don’t mind,” Goten smiled, politely shaking Rei’s mom’s hand. Rei secretly admiring the way he didn’t seemed bothered by all the sudden attention. And once he was done shaking hands, she unconsciously moved to take his hand with hers once again. For the sake of keeping appearances, of course. Not because she felt that simple contact was calming her to no end, or because she didn’t like the way Minako kept eating him with her eyes. No, this was just to keep up the appearances.

“Enough of this then,” Usagi clapped her hands excitedly. “Why don’t we all return to the dining room? I’m sure we can interrogate Goten better over our delicious meal.”

Goten smiled at Rei calmly, and he placed a warm hand to the small of her back. A signal she took to lead the way. “How am I doing?” he asked in a soft whisper.

“You’re handling it perfectly,” Rei whispered back, “but I think my sisters are suspicious.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll fix that,” he whispered, sending shivers down her spine and she felt her cheeks flush.

They all sat at the table, Goten pulling out the chair for Rei. “I see chivalry isn’t dead after all,” said Rei’s mother, Serenity.

“Not the way I was raised,” Goten smiled as he took his own seat next to Rei, who immediately grabbed his hand under the table. Holding his hand suddenly felt like holding onto sanity in this nightmare she created, her family was soon going to pick this fake relationship apart. This was a bad idea, oh just what was she thinking!?

“How’s school, Rei?” Minako asked with a smile.

“Great, if everything goes right I will be holding my degree by the end of this semester.”

“That’s wonderful!” Usagi joined in.

“And you, Goten,” Rei’s father, spoke up, “are you in school too?”

Rei felt Goten’s fingers twitch in her own.

“No, sir, not anymore. I only attended college for 2 years but I had to come back home to help my father in his business.”

“What kind of business?”

“Mixed Martial Arts.”

“Oh, so you’re a trainer?” Rei cringed at the unimpressed tone.

“I’m also the owner of a gym. My father left me the business in his will.”

“I’m terribly sorry about your father,” Serenity cut in.

“How’d he die?” Rei shot a glare to her nosy sister Minako.

“He died in the cage,” Goten sighed.

“Your father was a fighter?” Trunks asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

“Oh yeah,” Rei couldn’t help a small smile at the sight of Goten’s wistful one, “he was one of the best, he won a lot of fights but he never took care of himself. I changed the name of the gym to honor him.”

“What’s the name of the gym?” Trunks asked.

“Everyone knew him as Kakarot so,” Goten smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Damn, must be a hell of a gym,” Trunks nodded recognizing the name.

“It sure is,” Goten agreed, “and I take good care of what’s important to me.”

“Is my daughter that important?” Endymion asked.

“Yes, sir. Of course she is,” Goten said.

“And how many other ‘important’ girls have there been before her?”

“Endymion,” Serenity cut in.

“Father!” Rei whirled to him, horrified that he’d ask such a question. Goten’s hand moved from hers, resting on her thigh.

“It’s a father’s place to question what his daughter drags in to dinner.”

“Drags in?” Goten tried his best to smile, the gesture not quite making it to his eyes. “I assure you, sir that I was not dragged in by your daughter. I truly care about her and I fail to see how my past relationships are your concern.”

Rei looked to her father; things were definitely not going according to plan. No one had ever dared to speak back to him before; he was used to people carefully addressing him and doing whatever he wanted all the time. She worriedly looked for anger or rage, but found his face awkwardly and surprisingly neutral. To her relief, her sister’s personal chef finally appeared with fancy plates to serve dinner.

They started eating in silence, no one daring to say a word anymore.

“So,” Minako finally spoke after a moment of Endymion glaring over at Goten, who just ignored him for the rest of the evening, “how was your vacation, Usa?”

Rei groaned internally, this couldn’t be going any worse. Goten was too… he was too… he was definitely something.

He turned his eyes to her, leaning over and placing a delicate kiss to her earlobe. “We’re leaving right after dinner,” he whispered furiously as he pressed another soft kiss to her earlobe.

Rei nodded once, unable to do anything else but blush.

Usagi kept talking about the wonderful things they did while traveling, all the beautiful beaches they visited and the delicious food they ate. Stopping every now and then to let her husband speak.

Rei picked at her food inattentively, she really couldn’t bring herself to pay attention to anything but the soothing way Goten’s thumb kept caressing her upper thigh. She didn’t even try to stop him, mainly because she wasn’t even sure if he even realized he was doing it. And damned it if it didn’t felt good!

“So, Goten,” Trunks smiled over at him, “you play poker?”

“I sure do” Goten said, squeezing Rei’s knee, who immediately took his hand again.

“Really?” Trunks crossed his arms, “how good are you?”

“I’m pretty good.”

“We’ll have to see about that, I have a few friends that are pretty damn good.”

“It’s all in the face.”

“So you’re so well versed in lies then?” Rei felt Goten’s thumb twitch against hers at her father’s accusation.

“Only when it comes to games, sir,” he said as calmly as possible.

“Is that what Rei is too?”

“Endymion! Stop this right now,” Serenity warned him in a low voice.

“What? It’s a perfectly legitimate question,” he fired back as he locked eyes with Goten once again.

“Meeting your daughter is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, sir,” Goten said firmly. “She is a wonderful woman, kind, beautiful and incredibly smart. I believe she’s perfectly capable of realizing when and if someone dared to play a game with her. You might not agree with her decisions, but apparently I’m worthy in her eyes to be her boyfriend,” he paused for a second. “And I’ve had enough of being insulted by you. I come from a good family that raised me right, I don’t have all the money in the world but what I lack in funds I make up for in other ways.”

“You should understand I want my daughter to be well taken care of.”

Rei wanted to yell at her father, tell him to stop insulting her date. He didn’t deserve to be treated that way! He was going to be furious when all of this was over, he would definitely not want to talk to her ever again. Oh what was she thinking!? This was all very wrong.

“I could care less about any money your daughter has or will have,”Goten said shaking his head almost imperceptibly, getting up from his seat abruptly and turning his attention back to the others. “Thank you for having me over, but I’m afraid I lost my appetite. Rei, can you please drive me home?”

“Yeah, of course,” she got up glancing at her father. Goten put a hand on the small of her back again, leading her to the front door. He opened it and closed it silently behind them.

“Holy shit, your family is awful,” he breathed the words as they moved to her car, brushing a hand over his spiky hair in annoyance. “Rei,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, making her look up into his eyes.

Rei felt her heart flutter as he leaned towards her. “I’m really sorry about all this,” she said, “and I’m sorry about my father, he–“ she was suddenly cut off in the best unexpected way possible. Goten pressed his lips to hers, carefully cupping her face and placing the other hand on her hip to pull her closer, and all Rei could do was stand there in absolute shock.

“Rei, Rei! You forgot your–“ Goten pulled away from her then, turning his head back quickly as Usagi came into view with Rei’s small clutch in hand. “Oh wow, sorry for interrupting the make out session on my driveway,” she giggled. “But you should wait until you get back home, if Daddy sees you two–“

“I don’t give a fuck about he says,” Goten grabbed the small purse and handed it back to Rei, moving to get into the car already. “Thanks for the lovely evening, Usagi. I’ll make sure to call Trunks about that poker game soon.” He got in the car and Rei moved around to the driver side.

“Rei?” Usagi called out softly, “maybe we can do a double date sometime? You know, without Daddy around.”

“Sure, maybe,” Rei smiled halfheartedly, knowing full well that wasn’t ever going to happen. She sighed as she sat down in the car, unsure about what to say or think. As bad as the night had gone, she still couldn’t get over the way he’d kiss her. Goten Son, the epitome of sexiness, had kissed her!

“Quite an evening, huh?” Goten turned to her. “You know what? I’m sorry, but I just had to get away from your dad before I punched him or something.”

“Yeah, honestly I don’t blame you,” she said softly. She really wanted to ask him about the kiss, was it part of the act? Was it real? Was she thinking too much into it? “My father tends to be very… let’s just say he’s over protective.”

“I guess I’m not one of the rich assholes he wants you to end up with,” he growled, and Rei looked at him for a moment while they stopped at a red light.

“My life isn’t up to him,” she said, and he looked over at her, a soft smile on his lips. “Thank you for agreeing to do this though.”

“I wasn’t expecting them to be like that,” Goten sighed.

“Well, that’s my family,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Goten? When.. when you kissed me, I–I mean that was.. that was part of the act, right? You knew Usa was coming out to give me my purse?” she tried to ask casually, as if she didn’t care.

“Yeah,” Goten said with a shrug, “just… you know, just being the perfect fake boyfriend.” They pulled up in front of his building not too long after that. “Thanks for a lovely evening,” he said turning to her, “but let’s not do that again.”

“Yeah,” Rei nodded. And she watched him climb out of her car and walk to the front door. Once he vanished inside, she drove home.

##########

As soon as she was back in her apartment, she went directly to the bathroom to start a bath. Surely that would help her forget about her terrible evening.

She undressed carefully, and tied her hair up in a messy bun.

“He kissed me,” she told her reflection, her hand instantly moving to her lips. Sure, they spent an awful evening with her family but he’d kiss her. Even if it was all a lie, nothing but for the sake of appearances… he’d kissed her. And she couldn’t deny how much she enjoyed his lips on hers. And maybe it was all in her mind, but he seemed so bummed about her father not liking him.

She heard her phone ding from her room, and she curiously went back to check it.

A message from an unknown number: ‘Hey, it’s Goten. I got your number from Motoki. I’m sorry about everything, I didn’t mean to ruin the night. I just couldn’t stand that your father was not only insulting me, but he was insulting you as well and that just wasn’t gonna fly, you know? And when we stormed out I assumed you’d forget your purse and someone would just bring it out so I just went with it to play it safe. I should say sorry about that too, I shouldn’t have done that. So yeah, I’m sorry.’

Rei smiled at the text, biting her lip as she tried to think about what to say. ‘Don’t worry about it. My family is crazy, and I’m honestly surprised you even send me a text after meeting them. You did caught me off guard with the kiss, but it worked perfectly for our story. Thank you again for helping me, and I’m really sorry for what happened.’

‘No problem.. Good night, Rei.’

It was a simple text but it made her smile. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t hate her after everything that happened that night. ‘Good night, Goten’ she wrote, and then finally got in the bathtub to enjoy the warm water, her mind roaming over the day she unexpectedly met Goten in all his naked glory.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, another chapter!  
> And things are officially getting complicated!

 

Rei was abruptly awoken by her obnoxious phone’s ringtone, pulling her from an interesting dream involving a certain spiky-haired man. “Yah?”

“Hello, dear,” a soft voice spoke on the other side of the line, the worriedness in the tone making Rei roll from her stomach to lay on her back.

“Hi, mom,” she sighed. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing, dear. I just wanted to check on you and Goten, you two are alright?”

“What do you mean, mom?”

“Well, your father was very rude during dinner last night, and I just wanted to make sure you two were, you know, still good.”

“Oh,” Rei furrowed her brows and ran a hand through her messy hair, “yeah, we’re okay,” she said hesitantly.

“I’m so glad, sweetie. If you ask me, he’s quite a catch! Very handsome and he’s probably in great shape too if he owns that gym.”

“Yeah, he is,” Rei blushed as she realized she was discussing Goten with her mom as if that whole relationship thing was real. Of course it wasn’t real, why would it be real? It was all an act after all.

“Oh, are you at his place right now, sweetie? Is that why you sound so groggy? Sweet Selene, I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

“Mother!” Rei chuckled. “Of course not! I’m at home.”

“Oh, too bad. Where is he then? You must tell me everything about him!”

“Mom!”

“Fine, fine! He is a very handsome young man,” Serenity sighed nostalgically, “I sure miss those days. Being young, carefree, and an object of desire by more than one man… staying out all night with hot guys and –“

“Mom, stop!” Rei cut off her mother’s awkward trip down memory lane. “I actually promised Goten I would call in the morning so… I’ll call you later today, is that alright?”

“Sure thing, sweetie. Bye bye now, love ya.”

“Me too, bye mom,” Rei hung up and groaned as she rolled over to bury her face in her pillow once again, in a slight attempt to smother herself. She let out a heavy sight after a moment and simply sat up. The previous night had been a major fiasco, she shouldn’t have even thought about it in the first place. But at least now it was over; a simple, awkward and unexpected night. But now everything could go back to normal!

Yes, life could go back to normal now. She could get up, fix breakfast and catch up on schoolwork for the rest of the day. There was no need to be missing that feeling in her stomach when Goten held her hand. No need at all to be thinking about silly excuses to make it happen again. No, he was free to do whatever he wanted instead of pretending to be interested in anyone like her and, if she was being honest with herself, a man with a fake kiss that damned powerful deserved to be in a real relationship. And that kiss… Rei shook her head and got out of bed, not quite ready for life to go back to normal.

##########

Life did go back to normal, but it only lasted until around eleven forty-five that morning. Rei was working on a school assignment, trying to come up with a convincing argument to introduce an idea when her phone dinged. “Oh you gotta be kidding me,” she rolled her eyes after reading the text from her sister, Usagi.

A bright ‘Call me!’ and a lot of smiley faces. She shouldn’t be scared of that, of course not! Her constantly cheerful sister never did anything she should worry about… so Rei put the phone next to her ear, mentally bracing herself for all the questions she would have to answer or to hear about whatever Usa was up to today.

“Hey sis, what’s up?” Rei asked as soon as the call connected.

“Hello, Rei. So, your dreamboat owns that _Cacarrot_ or whatever MMA gym, right?”

“What? Why are you asking me?” Rei demanded immediately as she felt a pang of panic already rising.

“Oh, nothing. But I was driving by and I’m definitely stopping to check it out. Byesies, loveya!”

Byesies? Loveya? Oh fuck no. She only said that when she was trying to piss her off or when she was up to her usual no goodery. Rei had no choice and she didn’t hesitate. She dialed Goten as fast as her phone allowed her to. She checked the time then, he probably wouldn’t even be there. It was almost lunch time, right? So he wouldn’t be here! Oh please don’t be there. The universe couldn’t really hate her this much, right?

“Hello,” he answered with a grunt.

“Goten, it’s Rei,” she said.

“Oh. Hey there,” she noted the change in his tone and could hear the smirk, but had to ignore the stupid way it made her heart suddenly race. “What’s u– you have got to be kidding me.”

“Usagi’s already there!?”

“Yup,” he didn’t sound happy anymore.

“I’m so sorry, Goten. I trie–“

“I’m gonna have to call you back,” he interrupted her and abruptly ended the call.

Rei nervously chewed on her fingernails, anxiety increasingly rising. So she leapt to her feet, ran to her closet and pull out the first shirt and pair of jeans she saw. She needed to just go down there and stop her sister. Wait, Usagi could be reasoned with, right?

She was already putting on her jeans when her phone suddenly rang, making Rei curse as she almost tripped. She stared at the name on the screen for a few seconds before finally answering. “Hello?”

“Hey babe,” his voice said softly and Rei’s heart sped up again, “want to grab some lunch?”

“Lunch?” she barely managed to ask.

“Yeah, your sister Usagi just invited us to lunch with her and Trunks, isn’t that great? She said she would text you the details.”

“Oh no. You sound so pissed Goten,” she said softly and he rewarded her with a humorless, cold chuckle making her worry even more.

“Nah, she said nothing fancy. We’re heading out now though. See you there babe, goodbye,” he hung up and Rei stared at her phone.

"This is not good….”

##########

 

Rei drove as fast as she could without risking getting pulled over and she couldn’t decide whether she was furious with her sister Usagi or thankful for what she did. The latter was definitely starting to win as she parked out front of the small café that Usagi had said in her text, filled with hearts and smiley faces. Nothing fancy and it actually looked like a simple, mom-and-dad-owned café –something that honestly surprised her. Ever since Usagi started dating the millionaire heir of Capsule Corp, her love for fanciness grew more and more. It only got worse after they got married. But Usagi had only three great loves in her life: cake, Trunks, and everything fancy.

She climbed out of her car and moved to the front door quickly, and she couldn’t help the genuine smile coming to her lips as she saw Goten stand up from the corner booth the moment she walked in. He was wearing his workout clothes –black fleece pants, white shirt and a gray fleece jacket. His hair looked messy and he had a big grin on his lips as she moved to him. “Hello,” she greeted them as Goten held out his arms. She reluctantly stepped into them, burying her face in his chest and breathing in the mix of cologne, sweat and some other thing she couldn’t quite place. The most glorious and intoxicating smell she’d ever smelt! He held her for a second before she felt his lips lightly brush her ear.

“You,” he whispered as he gently placed a kiss on her ear, “owe me.” She turned her face to his, surprise written all over her features, and he kissed her then. A quick, chaste kiss and then he stepped back.

“No making out in here, please,” Usagi giggled, and Rei was sure she heard Goten sigh as he motioned for her to sit. “So how are you Sis? How was your morning?”

“Fine,” Rei said, her hand quickly finding Goten’s under the table. He pulled away from her immediately and she focused her attention on her sister as she tried not to let it show on her face that it bothered her. She looked up at him then, only to find his eyes were set on a couple a few tables down from where they were. She could see the back of the head of someone with short blonde hair, and a pretty young girl with medium dark hair. And she was staring right at him, making Rei feel a stab of annoyance. She looked the young girl over, not because she was jealous but because she was curious. Why was he staring at her so intently? She was pretty, sure, but …. No, dammit. She looked way too young to be an ex-girlfriend. That was when the girl got up, and moved to their table with a small, nervous smile.

Goten stood as she neared, giving her a serious look before holding out his arms. “Hey Uncle Goten,” she said as she stepped into the hug.

“Hi Pan,” he said as he stepped back. “I see you’re out with Kale again.”

“Oh don’t even start,” she threatened. “You’re not my dad, you can’t tell me who I can and can’t date anyways.”

“No, but I sure can tell him you’re seeing that idiot again. Besides, your grandpa made me promise to look out for yo–”

“Yeah, yeah. But you’re supposed to kick his ass if he breaks my heart again, I already have an overbearing dad, I don’t need another one,” she rolled her eyes and then turned her attention to the beautiful people sitting at the table. “Who are you with?”

“Oh,” he turned and introduced the couple sitting across the table, “this is Usagi and her husband Trunks.”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” she put a hand on her hip, “but you know that’s not what I meant.”

Goten took an almost imperceptible deep breath. “This is my girlfriend, Rei,” he said and the girl’s eyes lit up immediately.

“You have a girlfriend!? Kami, I’m so calling grandma on you for that!”

“No, Pan –“ he started and she only squealed more.

“Oh, come on. She doesn’t know if I didn’t!”

“What? You’re keeping her a secret?” Usagi tossed the question.

Goten sighed defeated. “I didn’t want to get her hopes up,” he pointed a look at Pan. “I’ll call her when I close the gym, alright? She’s at work right now anyways, so why don’t you go back to your idiot boyfriend now and pass along my threats?”

“Fine,” Pan rolled her eyes and hugged Goten again. Rei felt guilty at how much things were complicating now. Sure, for a brief second she had been relieved to know she was a relative and not someone he was interested in or something. But now he had to call his mother and tell her he was seeing someone. Oh, how wonderful! He was definitely going to hate her for this. Pan moved back to her table and Goten sat down, making Rei jump a little at the feel of his warm hand on hers. She eagerly took the offered hand and smiled up at him, happy to see that gorgeous smirk on his lips again.

“So,” Usagi crossed her arms, “why hide it?” she asked with that serious tone Rei knew too well. It was her trademark ‘not buying your crap’ tone she’d heard often when they were growing up. “What? Is my sister not up to your standards or something, huh?”

“Usagi,” Trunks started but got silenced immediately with a look. And he was smart enough to know when to stop.

“I have every right to ask.”

Goten sighed again. “My mom has this… tendency to believe every girl is ‘the right One’, and I just... I hate getting her hopes up,” he said carefully, slowly rubbing Rei’s hand with his thumb under the table.

“So what are you saying? You’re not good with relationships? You don’t think my sister is good for you?” Usagi asked, and Rei shot her a look.

“Please shut up, Usa. You’re starting to sound like dad,” Rei rolled her eyes.

"Well, maybe Daddy was right!"

“If you really want to know, Usagi,” Goten’s smooth voice cut in between them before they could argue, “I don’t have good luck in relationships. I’ve been hurt before, I’ve been cheated on, lied to, and I’ve tried to keep that from affecting me,” he turned to face Rei then. “I honestly believe I’m not good enough for your sister, but hey,” he turned his attention to the blonde sitting in front of him, “I’m enjoying every moment I can until she realizes that.” Rei leaned on him for that, a warm feeling inside of her as she tried to remind herself it was just an act, even as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to bring her closer to him.

“Well I think it’s great,” Trunks declared. “And I like this guy. He works out, plays poker, owns his own business like me… honestly, if you don’t marry him Rei, I think I might have to.”

“Trunks!” Usagi rolled her eyes, softly hitting his arm. “you think you’re so silly and cute. Oh, that reminds me.. isn’t Nappa coming into town tomorrow night?”

“He is, and he’s staying with us,” he reminded her.

“Great. You know what we should do, honey?” Usagi smiled at him and Rei felt like face palming and slapping him for falling for her stupid smile every damn time she turned it on him. “We should host one of those poker nights you love so much! Oh wouldn’t it be fun? Goten you must come too,” Usagi turned her blue eyes to him and Rei felt his arm around her shoulder twitch a little.

“Sure, you in?” Trunks asked.

Rei couldn’t help but look up at Goten, secretly hoping he would keep up their charade. Goten looked down at her and she was surprised when he pulled her closer.

“It’s up to you, babe. Can you spare me one night?” he asked, and she tried her best to casually shrug.

“You’ll have to make it up to me,” she said, not missing the way Goten quirk up an eyebrow with a devilish grin on his lips. Rei forced herself to look away before she let her mind go wild… if only this was real.

 

##########

 

The rest of the evening passed with relative ease, which was extremely surprising when it came to spending time with Usagi, and before Rei knew it, Goten was walking her back to her car. Trunks and Usagi saying goodbye at their cars.

“So,” Rei began awkwardly, “thank you… again.” Goten wrapped an arm around her.

“This is definitely not what I signed up for,” he said as he carefully pushed her against the side of her car. The feeling of metal and glass on her back made Rei jump, and when Goten closed the distance between them, her eyes widened and she tensed a little. His body pressed against hers without warning and she couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped from her lips. Goten responded with a wolfish grin as his eyes ran over her face, memorizing every tiny detail. “Let me get this straight,” he said, “I’m doing you a huge favor and if you want me to continue with your ridiculous charade I have to play a game of poker with your brother in-law?”

“Yeah,” she managed to say.

“You owe me for dinner last night, and lunch today,” he ran his eyes over her face again, “and technically, you’d owe me too for that poker game,” he paused, searching for her eyes, “.. _girlfriend_ ,” he said in a low voice that made Rei squirm.

“Okay, and your point?” she asked as serious as possible as he brought his face closer to hers.

“My point is, _babe_ , that maybe I wanna start collecting,” he said before pressing his lips to hers. Rei didn’t want this to stop so she did the only thing she could think of and threw her arms around his neck, allowing her fingers to tangle his dark hair. Dammit, if he was going to keep pretending like he was her boyfriend, she might as well get what she wanted while could! And she was damned if she was going to wait for him to deepen the kiss, so she pulled his body as close to hers as she could, and she moved her tongue against his lips until he opened his mouth. If this wasn’t heaven, it was definitely close.

“Ugh, seriously?” Usagi’s voice made Rei open her eyes, and she couldn’t help the grin on her lips at how stunned and embarrassed Goten looked. “Don’t you have to go back to work, Goten?”

“Yes ma’am,” he breathed with a self-conscious chuckle, “but I, uh,” he cleared his throat, “I’m gonna need a minute.” Rei furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and Goten just shook his head as he adjusted his stance. That was when she felt _why_ he needed a minute and couldn’t help but let out a giggle. Goten’s eyes searched hers again and he leaned to her and playfully bit her bottom lip. “It’s your damn fault,” he admitted and she let out a little laugh.

“Well, there are definitely worse reactions to have,“ she teased, and Goten let out a soft chuckle as he kissed her gently once more. A quick, chaste kiss that made Rei’s heart race, “you really have to go back?” she asked when he pulled back.

“I wish I didn’t,” he sighed and stepped back, “I’ll call you later, alright?”

“Okay,” Rei nodded and he moved back to her to kiss her one more time.

“Sorry,” he whined and forced himself to move away. “I’ll call you, or why don’t you… just come by tonight, okay?” he winked and then moved back to his car. Rei sighed as she watched him climb in, and didn’t notice when Usagi leaned on the car next to her, both of them watching him leave.

“So,” Usagi gave her a look, “you’re finally gonna tell me what’s going on?”

“Huh?”

“Come on, Rei. I’m not stupid,” she rolled her eyes. “Why are you doing this? He’s not really your boyfriend, right?”

“What? Are you blind?” she looked over at her sister, “were you not here a moment ago when we were–“

“Save it, Rei,” the blonde interrupted her, “you haven’t really dated anyone, and honestly I don’t even think you’ve ever slept with anyone,” she sighed. “Trust me, little Sis, I know guys better than you do and Goten, well… a guy like him is not the go steady type like you want, and he pretty much admitted it during lunch. He’s definitely hot and he knows what he’s doing,” she shrugged her shoulders, “he fucks what he wants and is gone when he’s done.”

Rei nodded in understanding, and forced a small smile for her sister.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay?” Usagi smiled halfheartedly and then hugged her goodbye.


	3. Chapter 3

Rei hated waiting. With that passion usually reserved for your enemies.

She didn’t have classes that day. Motoki did though, so that meant he was busy for a few more hours, and his girlfriend, Mako, was helping Usagi, who was the source of the problem to begin with!

But no matter what, she couldn’t bring herself to stop from wondering what Goten meant by _collecting_?

What exactly was he going to collect? And _how?_ But most importantly, was Usagi right about him? Was that really what he wanted, to fuck her and then leave her? It just didn’t made sense for her, but maybe she wanted to believe it. Maybe she wasn’t seeing things as they were.

She sighed dejectedly while sitting on her couch. She pulled out her cell phone, pulling up photos she had taken a while ago; around the time she secretly started realizing that she might have a crush on Goten. There he was, in the background of a cute picture she took of Mako and Motoki, his arm around Mamoru’s shoulders as he introduced him to Artemis. She thought back to the night the picture was taken, closing her eyes.

_It had been a rough day, she was exhausted and thanks to her father she was in a bad mood. She didn’t even wanted to go out that night but here she was, nervously following Mako and Motoki into a noisy, crowded bar, moving to a group of people she barely knew. And then her eyes landed on him._

_Toki’s best friend, Mamoru, was with him. He had his arm around Goten’s shoulders, looking like a proud older brother as he pushed a frothing mug into his hands. “Just drink it up,” she overheard him say, “you’ll find your courage, kid.” His eyes scanned the crowd then and landed on Rei._

_A wink. That’s all it took to make her blush and wish she could disappear. Naturally, she had no power to do so, and as Goten moved over to her, all she could do was try to smile and stay calm._

_“Look who decided to join us,” he said with a wolfish grin._

_“Hi, Goten,” she said as he stepped before her._

_“Hey, wanna do some shots?”_

_“I think you already had enough,” she said in a colder tone than she meant._

_He chuckled lightly and shrugged his shoulders. “It takes some liquid courage to talk to a pretty girl,” he chuckled again, “especially one that’s already seen you naked.”_

_“Ugh, shut up,” she growled in warning and he raised an eyebrow._

_“What, you already forgot?” He asked. “Do you need a reminder?” he offered with a wolfish grin, and she shoved him._

_“You’re being a jerk,” she turned to leave, ready to get away from him but he caught her arm._

_“Rei,” he said softly, stepping right behind her and bringing his lips to her ear, “you’re right, I’ve had too much. I’ll leave you alone, I just…” she turned her head, ready to glare when she saw his hurt expression. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin your night,” he forced a smile and walked off, back to Mamoru and the rest of the guys._

_The rest of the night, Goten wouldn’t even look at her. He wouldn’t say a word and made it a point to avoid her all night long, and it was making her feel extremely awkward. A few women had approached him, obvious in their intentions of course, but she didn’t even wanted to look at him anymore. When the end of the night came though, she noticed he got in a cab alone. And as wrong and selfish as that could sound, it made her feel a little better._

Rei jumped when her phone rang, forcing her out of her daydreams of Goten, and she smiled when she saw his name on the screen. “Hello?” she answered.

“Hey you,” he said as casually as possible, “I, uh,” he sighed, “this charade of yours is getting a bit out of hand,” he paused. “My life just officially got super complicated.”

“Why? What happened?” Rei felt a pang of guilt. She had been secretly enjoying this whole situation, but was he getting tired of it?

“My niece told my mother about you and now she wants to meet you. She called me at work and demanded to know why I hadn’t mentioned you before.”

“Dear gods, Goten I’m sorry, I –“

“Where’s your apartment?” he asked and Rei bit her lip as she felt nerves twist her guts.

“Why?”

“We’re going to skype her so you two can meet. She’s meeting with some friends tonight otherwise we’d have to do dinner.”

“Wait, you actually want me to meet your mother?”

“Well, Pan promised her I had a girlfriend and well, I gotta deliver. So, what’s your address?”

 

##########

 

Rei was usually calm and she wasn’t one to panic at all, but after cleaning her entire apartment and showering, she realized that’s exactly what she was doing! She did a final run through her apartment, hoping nothing looked out of place. After a last minute check, in which she found a pair of underwear on the floor of her bathroom, she decided to use the time wisely and pace like a maniac, like she usually did.

A knock on the door practically made her leap out of her skin, and she actually had to take a moment to compose herself before opening the door.

There he was, a grin on those wonderful lips she fought the urge to meet with her own.

“Hey,” he said, and she stepped back to let him in. He looked around her apartment as she led him inside. “You got a nice place.”

“Thanks,” she said nervously. “A-are you thirsty? Hungry?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “If you got a beer I’ll take it off your hands.”

She nodded and they moved to the kitchen, Rei going to the fridge to get it. “Goten,” she said his name carefully as she opened the door, “I’m really sorry about this whole situation. I mean, it’s complicating your life, and it’s just getting worse,” she closed the door and turned around to face him, “and now we gotta call your mom and lie to her, and –“

“You’re rambling,” he said with a soft smile, reaching out to take the beer she was holding, taking her now empty hand with his other. Something that took Rei by surprise; there was no one around to see them, so why were they holding hands as they moved to her living room? “Everything’s gonna be fine, I promise you. We just, uh, we might have underestimated your sister Usagi.”

“You have no idea,” she grumbled as they sat on her couch. Goten popped the top off the bottle with his keychain and raised it to his lips as he raised a curious eyebrow at her. “What’d she say now?”

“Well,” Rei bit her lip nervously, “she tried to call me out on this whole thing,” she sighed as she moved closer to him. He took a sip and held it out to her, a smile coming to her lips as he put an arm around her shoulders. Rei took a small sip, secretly relishing the feeling this small yet simple gesture gave her. “She also said that if you were truly my boyfriend, it would…” she trailed off, realizing that she shouldn’t have said it.

“It would what?” he asked, taking the beer from her fingers.

“She said it would only last until we… you know, and then you’d move on.” She chanced a look up at him when he was silent. He looked stunned and hurt, but quickly masked it when he saw her looking and simply shrugged it off.

“Alright then,” was all he muttered before he raised the beer to take a sip once more.

Rei watched in silence, wanting to say something else to fix the situation, but found herself incapable as he pulled out his phone. It was buzzing already and he sighed as he looked down at her. “Put on a smile, girlfriend,” he said as he answered the call. A second later a smiling woman with dark hair filled the screen. “Hi Mom.”

“Hi sweetie! How are you? How was work?”

“Good, busy as always. Uhm, Mom…. This is Rei,” he tilted the screen to give the woman a better view and Rei smiled at her gently.

“Hello, Rei. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m ChiChi. Now tell me, is my Goten being nice to you?”

“Of course I am!” Goten said with a proud grin.

“Yes, he’s the best,” Rei said and Goten squeezed her shoulders gently, pulling her closer to him.

“I’m glad to hear that. He’s not too old for me to ground, you know,” she said and they all chuckled. “Where are you, honey? It’s too damn clean to be your house.”

“Mother! This is Rei’s place,” he said and ChiChi nodded.

“That’s wonderful. You two have any plans for tonight?”

“We’re just gonna watch a movie here,” Rei said and smiled up at Goten, “it’s my turn to pick, remember?” Why was it so easy to fake the whole thing to his mother? It just felt natural to do it, and it was so easy to tease him and make him grin like that.

“That sounds lovely,” ChiChi smiled. “I have to get this casserole in the oven now. Launch and Eighteen are hosting a small party and I’m supposed to bring the main dish ah, it’ll be nice. Oh dear, your brother is calling. I’ll call you later, alright? It was very nice to meet you, Rei. We’ll have to do dinner sometime soon, okay?”

“Of course, anytime,” Rei smiled joyfully and Goten chuckled lightly.

“Bye mom, love you. Tell Launch and Eighteen I said hi.”

“I will. I love you too, my boy. Goodbye,” she said and Goten ended the call. He dropped his phone onto his lap and looked at Rei. “Well, she likes you.”

“What? How can you tell?”

“The last time she met a girlfriend she barely said a thing and refused to do anything with her. I tried setting up dinners, brunch, and nothing. I couldn’t even get them to go shopping together.” Goten chuckled, taking another sip of beer and Rei smiled to herself, proud of her accomplishment.

“Well, my mother liked you. Trunks obviously did too.”

“Oh yeah, we’re setting up our wedding registry tomorrow though,” Goten winked at her and she laughed.

“He said if I don’t marry you,” she reminded him gently and Goten looked down at her at that.

“You want to fake marry me already? Geez, Rei, you sure move fast,” he said with a playful grin.

“Come on, you know you want to too,” she giggled and Goten smiled at her.

“It’ll be the biggest lie of the century. Are we gonna have fake everything?” he asked, making her laugh even more. “Fake priest, fake chapel… hell, we should get a fake cake for the reception too!”

“I don’t know about you, but that sounds perfect to me,” Rei said, unconsciously snuggling into him more.

He responded by leaning back onto the arm, pulling her with him softly so she was practically resting on his chest. “Yeah, it could work.”

Rei was very comfortable there, and she just wanted to stay like this for a little longer. Her head resting on his chest, she dared to look up at him after a while. “Goten?”

“Yes, girlfriend?” he asked softly, looking like he didn’t wanted to move either.

“Do you just want to stay and watch a movie?” she asked nervously, “we can order some take out or –“ Goten grinned and she suddenly felt self conscious. “I mean, if you –“

“Sounds good to me,” he said and Rei smiled at him, wondering what was going on behind those mysterious, dark eyes.

 

##########

 

Rei wasn’t exactly sure what heaven was or whether it was real or not, but if this wasn’t it, she could care less! Cuddled up on her couch with Goten’s arms around her, her head still resting on his chest… it was perfect.

They were five episodes into one of her favorite shows, the take out boxes discarded and long forgotten on the coffee table in front of them.

“Hey, you gonna be at that poker game thing tomorrow?” he suddenly asked.

Rei looked up at him, noting for the first time that it wouldn’t take much effort to kiss him like that. “I can check with Usa,” she said, forcing herself to ignore those thoughts, “you want me to go?”

“Yeah,” he said with a sleepy grin. “It’ll be more fun if my lucky lady is by my side.”

“Lucky? Me?” she asked with a shy smile and he nodded slowly. “Are you sleepy?”

“Real busy day at work today, new members to train and all that,” he let out a yawn and Rei couldn’t help a soft smile on her lips.

She looked back to the television, wanting to ask him to stay but almost fearing the answer. “You look too tired to drive home like that, you….” She gulped nervously, “you wanna stay tonight?” she finally asked, not even sure what she was expecting as an answer. When he remained quiet, Rei dared to look at him. A soft smile on her lips as she realized he had fallen asleep.

She laid back down then, burying her face in his chest, enjoying the way she felt wrapped in his arms. Oh, why couldn’t this be real!?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been dealing with a lot of stuff lately, but hey, that's life right?  
> But I'm back (hopefully)
> 
> So here's a really short chapter, enjoy!

“Hey, babe,” Rei tried to ignore the voice and buried her face back in her unexpectedly warm pillow. Except it felt nothing like her pillow. She opened her eyes, slowly blinking in confusion until she realized what was going on.

“We both fell asleep.” That was when it dawned on her that she had just tried to nuzzle into Goten’s chest. And had he just called her babe?

“Well, why’d you wake me?” she whined as she sat up and he chuckled softly.

“My back was killing me, sorry,” he said as he followed her up, stretching and yawning loudly. “Shit, it’s already two. I guess I should –“

“Shh, let’s just go lay down,” she sighed as she stood up, holding out a hand. He smiled as he took it and stood up as well, lacing their fingers together as they moved to her room.

Rei was sleepy, too sleepy actually. The kind of feeling you get where you’re not even fully awake and aware of what’s going on around you and you’re basically high on a dream. But if there was one thing that could pull anyone out of that state, it was definitely Goten pulling his shirt off. Just like he was at that very moment.  He pulled it off in that slow, sexy, I’m-part-of-a-porno kind of way.

And damn, was Rei enjoying the show. He dropped it on the floor unceremoniously and she watched him with more than mild fascination as his fingers moved to his belt buckle. Her staring must have finally been noticed because he looked up at her with a wolfish grin. “What? I could technically sleep naked now. Nothing you haven’t seen before,” he winked.

“Oh, hush,” Rei tried to shove him but he caught her hands and pulled her to him. Caught up in the moment, and her sleep fogged mind not helping at all, she didn’t even think twice before standing on her toes and kissing him unexpectedly. When it dawned on her what she was doing, she quickly stepped back, her heart racing as she tried to come up with an excuse.

He waved her off her stumbling tongue and moved to her bed. “Let’s just go to bed,” he said as he collapsed, Rei following then.

She smiled proudly to herself as she felt him scoot up against her a little, an arm wrapping around her waist. He pulled her against him softly and Rei couldn’t help the internal little squeal of pure excitement as he nuzzled into her hair. “Nite, babe,” he said softly, his lips gently pressing to her ear.

“Goodnight,” she said softly, before falling asleep.

 

##########

 

Waking up in Goten’s arms was something Rei had never dared to hope for. Not even in her wildest, feverish dreams. When she opened her eyes and saw she was laying on his chest, their faces mere inches apart, she surprised herself feeling like she could easily get used to waking up like that for the rest of her days. She tried to move and his arms tightened around her. “Don’t,” he mumbled and she couldn’t help a smile on her lips.

“You’ll be late for work.”

“I’m the boss, other people can do my job,” he said as he opened one eye.

“I have to go to school,” she said and he groaned.

“Just skip class like a normal college student.”

“Goten,” she warned him and he reluctantly let her go with a pout. She sat up carefully, watching him sit up too.

“Morning,” he said with a sigh as he finished stretching.

“Morning,” she said softly and he smirked.

“Can I borrow your shower?” he asked and she nodded.

“But you don’t have any clean clothes.”

“Don’t worry, I always have a change of clothes in the trunk.”

“Oh,” she nodded. “Used to being out all night?” she asked, immediately regretting it when his expression darkened and he stood up from bed. “Goten, I didn’t mean –“

“You did,” he said coldly, going to his clothes and pulling them on.

“No, Goten,” Rei climbed off her bed and tried to touch him but he quickly pulled from her fingers.

“You know what?” he growled as he buckled his belt. “I can deal with father saying bullshit because sure, whatever, chick’s dads never like their boyfriends or whatever, right? I mean, fuck, I can even deal with your sister Usa thinking I’m some sort of womanizing douchebag or something, but you,” he scoffed as he scooped up his shirt. “Here’s some food for thought, Rei. If I was really just after that then why the hell would I fucking agree to do this?” he motioned between them. “I’m not out getting fucked, I’m doing lunch, dinner, and even playing goddamned poker with your brother in-law!” He tugged his shirt over his head, scooping up his shoes as he walked away.

“Please stop, Goten,” Rei caught his arm at her front door before he could step outside.

“You know what?” he said quietly, “if that’s all you think I am, I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Rei suddenly realized the expression on his face was hurt, not anger. “Goten–“

He pulled his arm from her fingers and stalked outside. “Fuck off, Rei,” he said then, the door closing loudly behind him.

##########

 

Skipping class went against everything Rei had been taught growing up. Had she done something like that in high school, she would’ve been grounded and no way would she even be allowed to use her stupid fancy car. That mentality carried over to college; four long years in and she had yet to miss a day that wasn’t absolutely necessary. So why was she pulling up to the MMA gym instead of class?

Because of him, of course.

A scowl came to Rei’s lips as she realized his car wasn’t there. She pulled out her phone and called him, not really sure if he would even answer.

“Hello?” he answered, sounding like he didn’t check the screen before he did.

“It’s me,” she said and he sighed. Rei chose to ignore the way it sounded like he was annoyed and continued. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“Well, you know,” he said with a tone she didn’t enjoy, “it’s been so long since I’ve fucked a chick, I figured I might go find one right away and –“

“Will you shut up already!” she snapped. “I’m sorry I fucking assumed you had a change of clothes because you’re out a lot, okay!?”

“No, it’s not okay, Rei. I’m a fucking trainer, I’m always covered in sweat and shit. Why wasn’t that the first thing you assumed? Huh? Why? Did it occur to you that maybe, oh I don’t know, I don’t want to fucking stink all day?”

“Because you’re a damned walking talking fantasy, Goten!” she snapped again, not realizing what she was saying. “You’re the sexiest man I know and you’re…” she trailed off as she finally realized what her mouth was saying. “And,” she swapped tactics, “if I recall correctly, someone said that he usually gets a girl’s name before she’s staring at his dick.   _Usually_ implies that sometimes you don’t!” she huffed as angry, upset tears threatened to fall from her eyes at any moment. “Just forget it,” was the last thing she said before she hung up.

 

##########

 

Rei sighed as she stood up from the table once her class was over. She scooped up her notebook and moved down the steps, blending in with the crowd of students exiting the lecture hall and heading to their various destinations. Outside the door she halted, eyes landing on a face that didn’t belong there. She moved over to him slowly, as if he would disappear.

“Hey,” Goten said softly, making Rei blush as she felt everyone stare at them as they passed.

“Hi,” she said back and he sighed heavily, a defeated sound that made her heart cower. And she was sure she never wanted to hear that ever again.

“Listen, I owe you an apology for earlier,” he said as he put his hands in his pockets, rocking on his feet nervously. “I just... well, it kinda stung that that’s what you think of me,” he ducked his head and Rei had to fight every instinct telling her to kiss away that self-conscious scowl.

“But I don’t,” she said instead, reaching out a careful hand to his. “I really don’t. I’m sorry for what I said too.” He took her arm gently, pulling her to him for a hug she eagerly stepped into. She wasn’t sure, but it felt as if his lips brushed her temple and she smiled as she buried her face in his chest.

“You’ll be there tonight, right?” he asked and she nodded, not moving her face from his clean smell. “Good, so will I… girlfriend,” she looked up at him and he grinned as he leaned his face close to hers. Rei took the cue, whether it was meant to be one or not, and stood on her toes, pressing a soft kiss on his lips.

A gasp behind her made Rei whirl and Goten sighed with a muttered curse.

“Oh. My. God.” Artemis stood there, hands on his mouth. “When did this happen?” he demanded, “you two!? What?”

“Artemis –“ Goten started to speak but Artemis ran forward and wrapped them both up in a loving hug.

“Finally! Geez, the tension between you two was getting intense,” he laughed, “I was ready to bring my own knife and cut it,” he smiled between them and Rei suppressed a groan. “So, why wasn’t I told!?” he demanded as he put both hands on his hips, lifting an eyebrow.

“Because it’s… it’s complicated,” Goten said, and Rei rolled her eyes.

“We’re not together. I’m lying to family about having a boyfriend so they stop setting me up with assholes.”

“Okay. Then why’d you kiss him just now?” Artemis countered and Goten chuckled.

“He’s got you there,” he said in her ear and Rei stepped away with a scoff.

“I’ve gotta get to class,” she said firmly.

Goten gave her a halfhearted wave. “Bye,” he said softly as Artemis leapt to his side, demanding all the details.

Halfway to her class, Rei had to stop and lean against the wall. She took a deep breath then. What was she supposed to say to that? Sure, she had kissed him and there was no one to act for around. Dear gods, she’d kissed him twice already. What the hell was wrong with her? Goten didn’t like her, not like that anyways, so why was she letting her stupid crush get the better of her?

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out curiously.

‘Haaalp!’ from Goten, attached with a picture of Artemis mid ramble and Goten rolling his eyes.

Oh yeah, she sighed, that whole living fantasy thing that he was. That’s why.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was cleaning out my laptop, getting rid of old files and school stuff and found this little chapter waiting to be posted.  
> Yes, I know I've neglected my stories for too long but I'm hoping to be back soon.. hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

It was amazing how fast holding Goten’s hand had become the most natural thing in the world for her. While in her car on their way over, the second both were out of the car, and as they strolled to the front door… it just felt _right._

Right before Rei knocked on the door, Goten made them stop and gave her a grin that made her heart flip. “What?” she barely managed to breathe.

“Wanna make this interesting?”

“Wha- how?”

“If I win tonight, we do whatever I want,” he said. “If I lose, we do whatever you want. Deal?”

“Anything?” Rei asked to clarify and he nodded.

“Anything you can think of.”

“Okay. Deal,” Rei said boldly and Goten’s eyes danced with mischief.

“Better get ready, babe,” he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, “I never lose.”

“Well you might tonight,” Rei said as bravely as she could as Usagi opened the door.

“Rei! Goten! Come on in! Trunks, Nappa, Tarble, Artemis, and some other guys because I wasn’t really paying attention when they introduced themselves, but anyways they’re in Trunks’ office, or as I like to call it, his ‘man cave’. Oh sorry Rei, but this is a no girls allowed situation.”

##########

“Rei,” Usagi sighed as they sat in the living room, an odd mixed drink in their hands in bright pink. “Just wait until you see, well more like hear what I just did.”

“Dear Gods, what did you do Usa?” she asked, immediately assuming the worst.

“Well it’s a sausage fest in there, I’m curious about what’s happening,” she held up a small black device that vaguely resembled a walkie talkie. “I simply bugged the room.”

“You what!?” Rei gasped and laughed.

“Oh shush,” she waved off Rei’s laughter and hit a button, making a small green light turn on.

“… father’s younger brother,” Trunks was making introductions.

“I’m the smarter one,” Tarble said and Trunks chuckled lightly.

“Nice to meet you,” Goten’s warm voice made Rei smile.

“And, well, you already know Artemis,” Rei heard fabric shuffle and was sure that meant Artemis was giving Goten one of his excited hugs. “Alright, introductions out of the way, what’s your poison Goten?”

“Oh, uh… a beer is fine.”

“Alright. Here we go then….”

##########

Cards were shuffled, dealt, and Rei was bored of the whole eavesdropping night. Seriously. That was boring as fuck! How Usagi wasn’t bored out of her mind was beyond Rei’s comprehension, just why exactly was she so entertained with that? All that had been said since the introductions were simple rules and a few choice swears…

“So Goten,” Nappa’s voice pulled Rei from her boredom. “Trunks tells me you own an MMA gym.”

“Oh, I do,” Goten said proudly.

“You have any pros training there?”

“My father was before he passed away, I have a couple guys there that I’m sure will make it. You train?”

“I used to be a wrestler. Been thinking about getting back into that.”

“You’ve been training lately?”

“A little every now and then, nothing serious.”

“Why don’t you stop by at the gym, check what we got and see if you’ll be interested in training with us,” Goten offered.

Usagi sighed. “Guys are so boring,” she said, talking over the oblivious men.

“… any kids?” Tarble was asking and Usagi immediately silenced herself.

“Oh, no no no,” Goten said with a nervous chuckle.

“Me neither,” Tarble said and then added, “not for mine or Gure’s lack of trying though!” That got a chorus of chuckles from the rest of the guys.

“Don’t anyone dare to mention children or babies around Usagi,” Trunks said with a sigh and Rei chanced at glance at her sister. “She’s been on me about having a baby for a month now. I just don’t want this to be some passing want.”

“Not exactly as easy as redecorating the dining room a dozen times,” Artemis said and Trunks mumbled words were lost to the machine as Usagi stood up with a shriek.

“Those assholes!” she growled, looking around for an excuse to go barging in there.

“How’d this whole thing with Rei start?”

“What do you mean?” Goten asked back.

“You know, how’d you two start?” That made Usagi halt mid angry step.

“Well I only met her after Motoki moved in with me and… fuck, I’ll be honest, man. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but she just kinda got under my skin from day one and I couldn’t shake her. So one day I had enough of her getting set up with assholes and grew a pair to ask her out.”

Rei blushed and smiled into her hand. It was all a lie, but she could still pretend for a minute right?

“Either one of you drop the love bomb yet?” Nappa asked and Rei pictured Goten shaking his head.

“Not yet.”

“Fifth date Usagi sprang it on me,” Trunks said. “First knee jerk reaction was to just fucking run for the hills… and well, I did. I went home and couldn’t sleep until I called her and told her,” he chuckled. “But now? Couldn’t imagine my life without her.”

“Aw,” Usagi put a hand over her mouth, “Trunksie.” Rei smiled, at least her sister was happy now.

##########

An hour passed and she was bored again. Cards shuffled, more curses, the sound of drinks clinging in glasses.. overall a boring game. Usagi was quite a few cocktails down, her face flushed from the alcohol and all Rei could think about was taking Goten home.

“… her yet?”

Goten coughed, pulling Rei from her musings. “What?” he asked with a cough.

“C’mon, we’re all men here. Have you two done any rolling around in the sheets?”

“Ha wow,” Goten laughed. “Uh no, not yet.”

“Why not?” Nappa and Artemis asked in unison.

“Because it’s not all about the conquest,” Goten said and Nappa snorted.

“Says who?”

“Me,” Goten said firmly. “Believe me I would love to but… I don’t know, for whatever reason I just want to take it in stride with her. Rushing her would just ruin it.”

Rei wanted to roll her eyes at that. If he would’ve told her to lay down on his bed that first day, she would have. The only thing stopping them from anything actually happening was the fact that he didn’t like her that way! And she wouldn’t dare do anything to even try.

##########

When they were finally let into the “man cave”, only Goten and Nappa still had cards in their hands. Both had their piles of chips shoved to the center of the table, staring each other down. Rei took in Goten’s emotionless face, he looked like a warrior ready to face death. She stepped up to the table and kissed his cheek. “You’re scary when you play poker,” she whispered in his ear as he wrapped an arm around her waist casually. Rei didn’t know much about poker, but his hand didn’t seem that amazing when she glanced at it.

“Fuck me,” Nappa sighed. “I can’t tell if you’re bluffing.” He tossed his cards down on the table. “I fold.” Goten’s face split into a wide grin as he laid his hand on the table. “You fucking serious? I could have beaten that!”

“Can’t bullshit a bullshitter,” Goten said with a shrug. “I’m the master.” He looked at Rei as he stood up. “I won.”

“Uh, oh,” Rei blushed, honestly worried about what he’d want. Immediately negativity creeped into her mind and she panicked, thinking he might want to stop this charade at once. Then… his eyes flicked down her body and she hesitated. Maybe he would want something else.

“This was a fun night, thanks again for inviting me, Trunks,” Goten said. “But I’m afraid we have to go now”

“So early?” Usagi asked. “You guys can stay around a little longer if you want”

“Yeah, we even have an extra guest room you can use, right darling?”

“Of course,” she forced a smile and glanced at her sister. A know-it-all smug look in her face.

“That’s very kind of you, but there’s a few things I gotta do before heading home tonight”

“That’s a shame,” said Nappa.

“Alright then. I’m confident you’ll join us again for poker night,” said Trunks as everyone else at the table stood up.

“I sure will. Already looking forward to wining again,” Goten joked.

They said their goodbyes, Goten telling Nappa to stop by at his gym anytime.

They moved to the front door, Goten’s arm still comfortably around her. They moved down to the driveway in silence, Rei unsure of what to say or do.

“So,” Goten finally said once they were by their car, safely away from prying eyes and ears. “I won,” he reminded her.

“Yeah, uh, I noticed,” she said carefully.

“So,” Goten leaned against her car door, blocking her from getting in, “whatever I want, right?”

“That was the deal,” Rei looked at him and he grinned.

“And you agreed,” he said with a wolfish grin.

“Yup”

“Hmm,” he pursed his lips, “this is gonna be tough”

“And how exactly is it tough?”

“Well,” he said, “it’s because I just,” he paused and sighed heavily. “I want so much”

“Oh. And, what is that you want?” Rei asked.

Goten shook his head as he opened the driver’s door. “Drive me home, _girlfriend_ ”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: this chapter was pretty long, but just wanted to throw all the good stuff out there already.
> 
> Next chapter will be up soon ish.  
> I had so much fun with this chapter.... but don't hate me!

Rei smiled as they pulled into Goten’s driveway, him smirking in the seat next to her. “So,” she said carefully as she parked the car, “have you decided what I owe you?”

“Nope,” he said far too casual as he turned to look at her. “Still working on that.”

“Is it really that hard to do?” she asked, and he grinned as he leaned towards her. Rei felt her heart speed up into overdrive as he drew closer, stopping less than an inch away from her. His eyes searched hers, flitting to her lips and back as if looking for something. “What-what are you thinking?” she managed to whisper and he shook his head.

“Just questions I’m scared to ask,” he said softly before closing the distance between them with a gentle kiss. “Goodnight girlfriend,” he said before opening the door and stepping out.

“Wait, no way,” Rei climbed out of the car after him and he stared at her in shock. “You can’t say something like that and then just leave as if nothing happened.”

“Say something like what?” Goten asked, his voice far too innocent to be believed.

“What are you scared to ask me?” she asked and he just shrugged.

“Just a few things, no big deal,” he replied and she shook her head.

“I don’t believe you,” she said with a small smile.

“I’m offended,” he said with an indignant air. She watching him turn to go inside, confidence in every stride. “You know,” he chuckled as he looked over his shoulder, “if you wanted to be invited in, you should’ve just said so,” he winked and opened the door. “You coming?” he asked and Rei sighed as she followed him in, trying to ignore the nervous butterflies in her stomach fluttering almost to the point of nausea.

“So, where’s Motoki?” she asked as they moved into the kitchen, Goten flicking on the lights as they went by.

“Out with his girl,” he said as he turned to her, leaning against the counter. “You hungry?”

“A little,” she said, nervously crossing her arms.

“Hmmm… I’m feeling like mac and cheese, wanna share?”

“Uh, sure?” she was hesitant and he moved closer to her.

“Something wrong?” he asked as he laid a warm hand on her crossed forearms. Rei kept her eyes on his as he gently tugged her arms apart, sliding his hand into hers. “Come on, Rei, talk to me,” he pleaded softly and she stepped up to him, a small smile on her lips as he wrapped his arms around her. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked, worry in his tone of voice.

“No, it’s not you,” she shook her head, breathing in his glorious smell and what had to be the smell of his detergent. “I’m just tired of my family and all their crap. Can you believe Usagi freaking bugged Trunks’ room?” She felt Goten tense, his breath stopping for a moment. “How crazy is that?”

“Uh-pretty uh, yeah pretty crazy,” he said and she looked up at him with a smile.

“You were quick on your feet with your lines,” she said and he shook his head almost imperceptibly. “All you said about me getting under your skin and how you wanted to take things slow. Definitely an Oscar worthy performance.”

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged. “All of it is worth it for you.”

“Me?” she asked and he leaned his face to hers, gently placing a kiss on her nose.

“You,” Rei blushed and Goten leaned his forehead against hers. “You wanna stay here for the night?”

“You want me to stay?” she asked in disbelief and he nodded. “Uh, okay but… what happens when Toki comes home?”

Goten shrugged and stepped backwards, taking her hands and pulling her along towards the hallway, “we’ll worry about that if we have to.”

“Goten,” Rei drew out his name as he tugged her to his bedroom.

“Hmm?” he asked innocently as they stepped into the darkened room, her heart threatening to stop as his hands gently moved to her hips.

“Wha-what are you doing?” she asked nervously as he tugged on the hem of her shirt.

“I’m fantasizing,” he said nonchalantly and Rei looked up at him quickly.

“About me?” she asked in shock and he chuckled.

“You sound so surprised,” he said as he let go of her shirt, amusement in his voice. “What’s so surprising about that?”

“Well it’s me. And it’s you and–“

“And I like that idea,” he said and Rei gasped as he suddenly kissed her. “Let’s just lay down, I promise I can keep my hands to myself.”

Rei bit her lip, almost daring to tell him not to make such foolish promises. “You could cash in your winnings,” she said after a moment and he chuckled.

“You see, what I want… I don’t know if you can handle.”

“Oh really? And what’s that?” she asked. “I think I’m up for the challenge.”

“Oh, you sure?” he asked as he moved her closer to the bed.

“Yeah?” she meant to say it with determination, but somehow it came out as a question. He shook his head and leaned his face close to hers, lips practically begging for a kiss.

“Let’s just lay down for now, okay? I’m too tired to cause any mischief and sleeping with you last night was the best sleep I’ve had in months. Please babe?”

She searched his eyes, finding emotions she couldn’t read reflected in them. “Why do you do that?”

“What?”

“Why do you call me ‘babe’?”

“Why did you kiss me at the college today?” he countered and Rei opened her mouth only to shut it slowly. Finally, the perfect counter came to her. “Why’d you kiss me in the car?” she was proud of herself until he let out a playful growl. Rei had no idea what happened, but next thing she knew her back hit the mattress and a startled yelp escaped her lips.

“Because,” he growled as he lowered himself over her, “I wanted to.”

There are times in life, times that you get that one opportunity dropped on you that you’ll never ever have again. This was one of those moments, and Rei knew it. She could kiss him, throw all caution to the wind and get exactly what she wanted. Of course this would change their dynamic forever, but did she really care? He obviously didn’t. At least in that moment. So why should she? Indecision made her hesitate, causing him to lower his face to hers.

“Goten!” Motoki’s voice in the house startled them. “You will not believe what just happened!”

Goten rolled off of her with a few mumbled curses, leaping over to the cracked door, hand going for the knob as Motoki barged in. “We were at –“ he froze at the sight and Rei saw confusion, shock, embarrassment and anger flash across his face in a split second. “Rei what the hell are you doing on Goten’s bed?” he asked in an eerily calm voice. He turned to Goten slowly, “why is Rei on your bed?”

“Just….” Goten looked to her and she shrugged unhelpfully.

“Okay, I thought this relationship thing was fake. What is going on here?”

“So what happened, where were you?” Goten asked and Motoki shook his head.

“Oh hell nah, you’re not worming your way out of this,” Motoki warned and Goten sighed. Rei looked between them and cleared her throat.

“Toki, we were actually plotting out how to convince Usagi. You know, my blonde sister isn’t as dumb as she pretends to be. She’s been dropping hints that she sees through this.”

Motoki looked at her and Rei sent out a silent prayer that he’d just believe her and drop it.

“Okay… well uh,” Motoki ran a nervous hand through his golden hair and Rei let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, “that makes sense. So, you staying here?”

“No, I’m heading home,” she said and kept her eyes on Motoki, ignoring the urge to meet Goten’s eyes as he looked at her quickly. “So everything alright?”

“Yeah, I was just,” Motoki shuffled his feet, “gonna brag to Goten about something that happened.”

“Oh right, guy stuff that’s too much for me to hear,” she said with a little laugh and moved to the door. “Bye guys. Goten, I’ll uh–“

“Just call me when you need your fake boyfriend,” he said with a shrug and looked away, a sign Rei took to mean that their one moment was over for good.

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” she nodded and quickly hugged Motoki. “Bye,” she said and left, before she made a fool of herself or let the hurtful sensation in her stomach get worse.

##########

Rei woke up to her ringtone again, realizing the happy tune needed to be changed because it was the most obnoxious fucking thing in the world. She fumbled her hand to her bedside table, knocking a couple things to the floor in the process. “Hello?” she answered without looking.

“Rei!” Usagi’s super cheerful voice was bad on a good day, but hearing it first thing in the morning after what happened, and what had _almost_ happened the night before, was something Rei didn’t want at all. “What’s up, Lil’ Sis?”

“Not much,” she sighed and rolled over in her bed. “What’s up with you?”

“Mom and dad are having a work related dinner tomorrow at their country home and guess what? I’m in charge of the guest list! So I wanted to ask if you were going to invite Goten…?”

Rei groaned and sat up. “Let me call him and see if he’s free.”

“Lovely! Let me know then. Oh, gotta go sis! Talk to ya’ later, love you!”

Rei shook her head as she hung up the phone, wondering what she should do. That whole thing last night… She shook off her indecisiveness for once in her life and she dialed him, wondering what he would say.

“This is Goten,” he answered on the second ring, the sound of punching bags and other weird sounds coming over the line.

“Hey. It’s me,” she said.

“Hey,” his response sounded slightly uneasy and Rei bit her lip nervously.

“Okay, feel free to say no, but my parents are having some big stupid dinner party thing at their country estate and I was wondering if you wanted to go,” she said it all in a rush, inhaling slowly when she was done. “So –“

“Well, the whole point of this is to keep them from setting you up with random guys, right?”

“Yes?”

“This would be the perfect chance for them to try it if I’m not there, right?”

“Yes…?”

“Well why would I bail on you the night you need me the most?”

“Uh well –“

“When?” he cut her off quickly.

“Tomorrow night?”

“I don’t dress up more than I did for that dinner at Usagi’s, is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s perfect,” she said.

“Alright, uh,” Rei heard another deep voice in the background and Goten sighed. “No, it’s alright, I got it. Rei, I’ll call you back later, alright?”

“Uh yeah, bye.” He hung up and she sighed as she dropped her phone on the bed next to her. She pulled her covers up to her chin and decided that today was a good day to skip class. She shut her eyes then, as if that could block the thoughts of him.

##########

A week ago Rei could have gone several days without seeing Goten. He had been this unobtainable thing that she had no hope of ever having as more than an acquaintance, or a friend of a friend. Now though, Rei bounced her legs nervously, eyes going to her phone every couple seconds.

She wanted to call him, invite him over, do something other than stare at the blank screen taunting her. Finally she caved, picking up her phone pulling up her contacts. He phone buzzed and she jumped guiltily, eyeing the text from Goten with a blush.

‘You busy tonight?’

That was innocent enough, right? She shouldn’t read too much into it anyways.

‘Not really, but working on a paper.’ Was her reply.

‘Poor babe’ she blushed as she read the text. ‘You want a distraction?’

‘I really need to get this done. You can stop by if you want.’ She hoped it came out as playing it cool and not as a complete dismissal.

‘I should probably let you work then.’

She groaned, laying her head against the back of the couch. Then her phone buzzed again. ‘Text me when you’re done.’

“You should’ve just said yes, you dumbass,” she grumbled as she set her phone aside. Knowing full well she wasn’t going to be able to work after she messed up another opportunity.

##########

The following night she was done getting ready when Goten knocked on her door, making her heart speed up. She checked herself in the mirror before opening the door.

“Hey,” he said in a low whisper, smoothing his hand down his navy blue shirt that made her breath hitch. He looked amazing. Glorious, sexy and just perfect. Her eyes traveled down his dark slacks and he chuckled. “See anything you like?”

“Oh yeah,” she breathed and he raised an eyebrow, his grin growing. “I mean, you look very nice,” she tried to fix lamely, mentally slapping herself. He shook his head and stepped into her apartment, grabbing her hands with his and pulling her arms around him. “Goten,” his name came out as a whine and she looked up to see him looking at her.

“You look beautiful,” he said and she rolled her eyes as she tried to adjust her thinly strapped black dress. “So,” he stepped away from her and cleared his throat, “you ready to get this show on the road, or what?”

“I guess,” she said and he grinned.

“Selfishly, I wouldn’t mind skipping,” he admitted.

“Me either,” she chuckled, “but doing this keeps them off my back.”

“And that’s the point of all this,” he said with a scowl that made her heart leap. Did he scowl at the thought of this all being fake or having to do it?

##########

“Fuck fuck fuuuuck,” Rei repeated with a barely audible sigh as she smiled at yet another group of people her father wanted his daughter to rub elbows with. All the while Goten laughed lightly at the obnoxiously gorgeous women that hadn’t left his side since they both arrived. She glared at how close a few of them were getting to being in his personal space.

Oh how she wanted to throw her drink in their faces, grab Goten’s arm and storm off with him without saying a word.

He looked to her, flashing her a strained smile and he walked towards her. He then took her hand gently, bringing it to his lips.

“Rei!” Minako came up to them with a big smile, her light coral dress hugging her lovely curves. “How’s my sister?” she wrapped her up in a hug, pulling her along away from Goten.

“Fine,” she said nervously, watching a brunette move in for the kill. Her hand was on Goten’s arm in an instant, her smile too wide and laugh too fake. “I think Goten’s getting more attention than father.”

“Oh I know! Poor daddy outshined at his own event by some guy he’d rather not have to deal with,” she laughed slightly. “Uh oh,” she looked over Rei’s shoulder, Rei following her gaze to see Goten now surrounded by yet another female in an uncomfortably tight dress, “looks like your guy is popular.”

“Yup,” she sighed heavily and took a wincing sip of her cosmopolitan.

“Hey,” Minako put a hand on her arm, “you know what, sis? You should go get your man, take him to your room upstairs and fuck his brains out.”

Rei spluttered and blushed violently.

“You better do it before one of them hussies gets bold enough to try it.”

That was enough for Rei to drink the rest of her cosmo, her eyes set on Goten. “You’re right,” she said, forcefully stealing the drink off her sister’s hand and finishing it in one swift motion before stumbling forward towards him.

Goten saw her and excused himself from the women. “Hey babe,” he said in greeting and Rei grabbed his shirt, pulling him to her. “Woah, wha–“ she put her lips to his, feeling his smile against her lips.

After a moment, she pulled back, taking his hand in hers. “I want to show you something,” she said and he raised an eyebrow, letting her pull him away. She led him up a grand staircase, nodding at people as they passed, smiling politely, until they went down the long hallway leading to the bedrooms. Once they made it to hers, she opened the door swiftly and shoved Goten inside.

“What’re you doing?” he asked as she shut the door and locked it.

“You’re my date,” she said and he chuckled nervously, “not _theirs_.”

“And you’re jealous?” Goten raised an eyebrow with a growing smirk.

“How am I supposed to act?” she demanded, annoyed at his triumphant look. “You’re supposed to be my boyfriend and –“

“And you just locked us in a room together,” he said, his voice dropping as he advanced on her.

“I did. But I had to get you away from them before–“ he kept coming at her, making her backpedal. Her back hit the door and she gasped, not quite sure what he intended with his dark eyes.

“Before what?” he asked, placing his arms on either side of her head.

“Goten,” she barely breathed his name and he let out a playful growl.

“Before what?” he demanded in that same low voice, moving dangerously closer to her.

“Before I lost you to them,” she admitted in a whisper and he sighed, eyes losing some of their mischief.

“Rei,” he shook his head and closed the gap between their bodies, startling her, “if I wanted one of them I would try for that. I was being polite, not flirting.” His eyes searched hers and she nodded. “Did you really bring me back here for that?”

“Kinda,” she admitted and he laughed as he pulled her towards the bed. “What are you –?”

“I’ve got a reputation to uphold here,” he said with a grin as he eased her to the bed. “So, we are going to fu–“

“WHAT!?” Rei tried to scramble from him in a slight panic and he chuckled as he followed her onto the bed.

“I’m just kidding,” he said with an amused grin she wanted to slap off his face. “Or we could just fake some noises and bang your headboard against the wall, that will definitely stop people from hitting on either one of us.”

“Goten!” she protested as he chuckled.

“Relax, okay?” he winked, leaning down to her lips, pressing a soft and sweet kiss to her lips.

“Rei!” her father’s angry voice made her pale.

Goten stood up, unbuttoning a couple buttons of his shirt as he went to the door. He paused before he opened the door, looking to Rei with a wicked grin.

“May I help you sir?” he asked through the door and Rei heard her father muttered curses.

“What the fuck are you two doing in here? Rei, people saw you two and–“

“I’m sorry sir, but we’re kind of in the middle of something here,” Goten said as calmly as possible and she jumped as her father slammed a fist into the door.

“Listen up boy, I swear I will–“

Goten cracked open the door. Rei leaping to her feet in shock. “I’m sorry if we’re upsetting you, sir, but I can assure you we are two consenting adults who know exactly what they’re doing so can you please fuck off now?” With that, Goten slammed the door and locked it. A grin on his lips as he turned back to Rei.

“Goten, you cannot be fucking serious,” she gasped nervously, watching his eyes flicking down her body briefly.

“I’m dead serious,” he said and moved back towards her, his hungry lips devouring hers the moment he got close enough.

She let out a light moan as he moved his lips to her neck, kissing and nipping softly. The close proximity affecting her, and she couldn’t fight it even if she wanted to. Rei raised her lips to his, capturing them and savoring how his now mumbled moan felt.

A frantic knocking on the door made Goten growl and reluctantly pull back.

“Rei!” Usagi frantically screeched through the door and Goten looked to her and nodded to the door.

“Go on, I’m gonna need a minute,” he said, a halfhearted smile on his lips.

Rei couldn’t help but glance at his slacks as she smoothed her dress, noticing the obvious tenting going on. A few crude jokes popped into her brain, but she bit her lip to hold them in as she went to the door.

“What the hell!?” Usagi demanded as soon as she opened the door, her eyes widen in surprise and confusion.

“What?” Rei asked innocently, Goten quietly chuckling behind her.

“You can’t just fuck your boyfriend when there’s a party downstairs!” she hissed, shoving her way into the room. “You!” she snarled at Goten, who just gave her a lazy wave.

“Hey there,” he said as he shifted on the bed.

“What were you thinking?”

“Oh please, it’s not like you never did something stupid like that with Trunks!” Rei rolled her eyes as nonchalantly as possible.

“That’s different!” Usagi countered.

“Whatever, we didn’t even do anything anyways. We kept getting interrupted,” Rei said and Usagi whirled to her, a slightly confused look on her face. Rei just shrugged when she didn’t say anything else.

“I guess we should go back to the party then,” Goten said, holding out a hand and she took it with a bearing smile. “After you, babe.”

##########

“Babe,” Goten’s voice in her ear made her blush violently as they rejoined the party downstairs. “I think your father is going to kill me.”

Rei looked around to her approaching father, squeezing Goten’s hand tighter. He looked pissed. Extremely pissed. More so than that time Usagi totaled her car for the second time in less than 6 months. He stalked up to them, murder in his eyes.

“A word,” he snarled around his teeth and Rei glanced to Goten. He shrugged like it didn’t sound as if he was about to face a firing squad, and simply kissed Rei’s cheek.

“You should go mingle,” he said with a wink and Rei watched in shock as Goten moved off to face her father alone.

“Rei, Rei, Rei!” Minako came running up to her, eyes dancing with mischief. “Ohmigod, you’re so crazy! I can’t believe you just did that,” she laughed and looped an arm through hers. “I would never be so bold!”

“What? It was your idea,” Rei hissed and Minako laughed, her head thrown back.

“Yeah, because he’s hot as hell and you two so needed to, but I didn’t think you would actually do it,” she shook her head and they moved subtly towards her father’s study. “Well, I hope it was fun because I’m pretty sure you’re about to be single again.”

“…. DARE YOU!” her father’s voice boomed from behind the shut doors. There was a muted response, obviously from Goten and the eavesdropping sisters pressed their ears to the thick doors in an attempt to hear what they were saying. Rei backed up a step at her father’s booming snarl of words. Worried about Goten’s safety, she glanced at Minako, noting her face was contorting with a mix of emotions.

“Should I go in there too?” Rei asked and Minako’s eyes widened.

“You wanna get killed too?” she whispered and Rei gripped the door handle, turning it with a heavy breath.

“No, I–“ Goten cut off his words, eyes falling on Rei in shock. Her father whirled, angry eyes turned on her. “It’s okay, Rei, go back out there.” Goten voice was tense, almost as though he was worried what would happen if she stayed.

“Look, father,” she said in a calm voice, trying not to flinch under his intense gaze. “I– it takes two, alright? So if you’re going to yell at Goten, you’ll have to yell at me as well.”

“Oh, I intended to,” he said and Goten stepped between them. Rei had to admit it, for a guy pretending to be her boyfriend he was doing a pretty damn good job of acting like the perfect boyfriend.

“This is all on me, sir,” he said in a low voice. “You don’t need to yell at her anymore, okay?”

“I’ll do as I wish,” her father snarled.

“I’m not going to allow that, what you wish be damned,” Goten’s voice was dangerous and Rei saw her father actually hesitated for a moment. Something akin to fear, or perhaps respect, flashed in his eyes as Goten stood his ground.

“Get out of my house. Now!” He snarled.

“Fine by me, I’m tired of all this stupid bullshit anyways,” he turned. His eyes landing on Rei and a smirk tugged up the corner of his lips. “You coming, babe?”

She knew what was happening now. Unwittingly, she had become the bone two dogs in the alley were fighter over. She carefully considered her options: Stay and upset Goten, or leave with him and enrage her father.

The murderous glare in her father’s eyes scared her; she’d never seen him act like that before. And after all, he was the man that paid for her tuition, her car insurance and all her bills..

Goten’s confident grin faltered, almost like he knew what she was going to say before she did.

When she decided, she opened her mouth. Speaking over his sigh, “Goten–“

“Yeah, I’m out of here,” he said softly, something she couldn’t name twisting his expression. He brushed past her, looking ready to punch someone, and stormed out.

“That’s better,” her father smoothed his impeccable suit unnecessarily. “Now that you’re rid of the trash, I have some people I’d like you to meet, dear.”

Rei nodded numbly, feeling as if her world was collapsing around her.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, this whole thing was separated in 2-3 chapters but I finally decided to just post it as one super long chapter. Hope you don't mind. And please, let me know what you think.


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